Governor Rick Scott tries to tame statehouse press corps

An athletic man like Jeb Bush, Charlie Crist or Rick Scott can make it from the podium to the door in the wood-paneled press conference room in Tallahassee about ten steps. But until last month, they rarely made it that far.

That’s because, by the tradition of one of America’s last big, raucous state capital press corps, a gubernatorial announcement in front of the state seal would immediately be followed by a press gaggle, with the governor pinned somewhere between the podium and the door – shifting from the topic he’d wanted to talk about to what the press corps wanted to ask about.

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POLITICO 44

When Scott, a former health care executive with a crisp demeanor and a familiarity with the Fifth Amendment began his term as governor last month, he and his team made an early priority of restoring some sense of order to a statehouse in which, in their view, the media had run wild. They resolved to limit the press’s access and to instill a new sense of “professionalism” on their flip-flop-wearing, question-shouting, governor-mobbing press corps. The resulting hullabaloo - voiced on Twitter and email chains and mocking newspaper columns and in stalled negotiations between the two sides, has evolved into an undeclared, and often highly entertaining, civil war.

“There is a period here at the beginning where it’s necessary to establish some ground rules and that’s really what we’re going through,” said Scott’s communications director, Brian Burgess, fresh from the the conservative Washington public relations firm CRC. Burgess said he had at first been surprised by the intensity of the competition for information among the rival news outlets. “We think that by giving a little bit of order to the whole process it will help everybody more evenly get the news that they need.”

The freewheeling capital press corps doesn’t see it that way and their outrage has come over symbolic and real issues. Reporters, Scott’s aides decreed, would sit and raise their hands, rather than standing and shouting their questions. The mob scene would end, and reporters expressed outrage at the suggestion – never acted on – that stanchions and a velvet rope might be put up to offer the governor a path out of the room. They should, Scott and his aides angrily told the press, refrain from posting frivolous blog items like the one about a Twitter glitch headlined “Gay Cowboys, Handcuffs, and Rick Scott.”

More substantively, Scott says he’s obeying the letter of Florida’s unusually expansive open government laws, but still cracked down on access to staff, meetings, and documents that Crist made available. And the governor’s office has sought to pick pool reporters for some private events, a choice that is traditionally a press prerogative.

But matters of both style and substance have rankled journalists, and Burgess’s joking suggestion that reporters substitute suits for t-shirts and shorts was met with particular derision.

“What authority do they have to implement a dress code?” asked Rick Flagg, a long-haired, bearded veteran radio reporter once dubbed “the wild man of the Capitol,” who said he’d heard of the proposal from another reporter. “I’ve made a career out of dressing down for these clowns,” he said.

Scott’s aides say the aim is a new tone.

“It’s the air of professionalism, the idea that we respect each other, we understand that we both have professional obligations,” said Burgess’s deputy, Brian Hughes.

40 years ago, when I was a stringer for The Lowell Sun, Lowell MA, I covered every board and event for the town of Tewksbury. One of the Selectmen running the town politically was the leader of a cabal of builders, merchants, Firemen and Policemen. From what I could see, they were milking the town in every way they could find. I was not alone in that conviction.

I found it easy to portray this leader in the most negative way by what I wrote, what I didn't write and the way I wrote. From an ethical perspective what I did was wrong, but I was clever enough that all attempts to get me fired were in vain since I recorded every meeting and used them to prove my quotes were accurate. Of course I chose which quotes to use. And in my heart I was doing a good thing, exposing an unethical person leading a group of predators on unsuspecting citizens. I was wrong because I was unfair to a person who was clever enough to cloak his activities in cover statements which I did not quote, so as not to allow him to confuse people.

I was a stringer for three years. I learned a lot about the news media. Because of my background, I can see the bias in stories. But I know from experience that a lot of people don't read carefully enough to pick up on a lot of it.

I don't blame the governor for trying to prevent as much damaging biased writing against him as he can get away with. But in the end, unless he is pure as driven snow and more clever than all members of the media, he will get skewered by one or more of them.

The Florida trash corps - Ooops, press corps needs to be reined in or thrown out ! Rick Flagg seems to think that by looking like a bum he maintains a semblance of what journalism and Journalists were all about ! He is so wrong ! The man is an insult to his profession - to his readers and to his State !

The Florida trash corps - Ooops, press corps needs to be reined in or thrown out ! Rick Flagg seems to think that by looking like a bum he maintains a semblance of what journalism and Journalists were all about ! He is so wrong ! The man is an insult to his profession - to his readers and to his State !

Well, my first thought was that the Floridian Press did not do there job prior to the election of Rick Scott. It is beyond me how a man that should be in jail and a felon can be elected as governor of a state.

He and his company frauded Medicare for $2 Billion Plus? He didn't want to fight the case and pleaded his 5th amendment right how many times? Something is wrong with our Justice System when these kind of people don't go to jail.

Here's a governor who is a criminal...a wise guy who like many mobsters before him 'used' the 5th amendment to avoid jail time. And the bozos in FL still elected him. And now the right wing sheep defend his fascist attempts to muzzle a free press! Ya gotta love where this country's going. Maybe Scott will make the trains run on time. Hey, morons..he is an elected official. He works for the people. He's answerable to a free and protected press. What the hell's wrong with you people?

I don't blame the governor for trying to prevent as much damaging biased writing against him as he can get away with. But in the end, unless he is pure as driven snow and more clever than all members of the media, he will get skewered by one or more of them.

Absolutely.

I see the new governor of Ohio is also setting himself up. Sure he looks and sounds so strong right now, but he comes into office and immediately alienates people. It's just a matter of time. Politically smart people don't make enemies where they don't have to. They are going to have enough of them anyway.

Rick Scott does not and will not cater to the press as did his predecessor. Scott seems honestly to want to DO something rather than to BE something, unlike Charlie Crist. It should be noted that Aaron Deslatte also works as a BLOGGER, and is very definitely on the opposite side of the political fence. Last, interesting to read Lucy's remark about breaking in a new governor; that is just how arrogant the press corps in Tallahassee really is. Thank heavens for a new day, when it is elected officials calling the shots and NOT the press.

Governor Rick Scott should be in prison, but unfortunately he is our Governor.

Governor Scott will not be good for Florida. He needs to control the press because old habits die hard. He will resort to unethical and perhaps illegal behavior. It's understandable that he wants to keep the press in the dark.

Governor Rick Scott should be in prison, but unfortunately he is our Governor.

Governor Scott will not be good for Florida. He needs to control the press because old habits die hard. He will resort to unethical and perhaps illegal behavior. It's understandable that he wants to keep the press in the dark.

Sure... the FL press, which lacks any reputation for putting a politicians feet to a fire was more or less just told they need to play to pay.

Want access... your articles better be flattering. Heck that kept McCain's Presidential run going until he opted for a prom queen in lieu of someone w/ substance. But heck... if Katherine Harris has taught is one thing...Florida is a punch line.

Ain't got a job boy? No problem. Aside from it being your own damned fault and not wanting to get you so hooked on unemployment payments you'll just sink into that old Barcalounger and wait for the next check, we is gonna lower your taxes. Can't beat that, and it'll fix everything. Oh, by the by, we also gonna cut your kid's education, fix it so you can't see a doctor, then cut yo taxes some more. Ain't that nice?

Ain't got a job boy? No problem. Aside from it being your own damned fault and not wanting to get you so hooked on unemployment payments you'll just sink into that old Barcalounger and wait for the next check, we is gonna lower your taxes. Can't beat that, and it'll fix everything. Oh, by the by, we also gonna cut your kid's education, fix it so you can't see a doctor, then cut yo taxes some more. Ain't that nice?